Current Affairs Quiz - April 2022

Notes:
The government has decided to maintain the status quo on interest rates of small savings instruments for the April-June quarter.
The interest rate of the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is 7.6 per cent while the Public Provident Fund (PPF) fetches 7.1 per cent. Interest rates on small saving schemes are reset on a quarterly basis, tracking the movement in benchmark government bonds.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind recently awarded the ‘best state’ award at the National Water Awards 2022. Uttar Pradesh topped among all Indian states in terms of water conservation while Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu secured the second and third place, respectively.
Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, Thiruvanathapuram in Kerala, East Champaran district of Bihar and Indore in Madhya Pradesh topped in the Best District Category for the north zone, south zone, east zone and west zone respectively.

Notes:
‘Guidance’, the investment promotion agency, for winning the ‘Best Investment Promotion Agency Award’ in Asia Oceania Region at the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) 2022.
It was an initiative of the Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Emirates. Guidance, the single-window facilitation wing of the Industries Department of Tamil Nadu, has played a significant role in presenting business opportunities in Tamil Nadu since 1992.

Notes:
Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur launched the logo, jersey, mascot and anthem of the Khelo India University Games 2021 (KIUG 2021).
The mascot is an elephant named as ‘Veera’. The event to be held in Bengaluru, postponed due to the ongoing Covid crisis last year, will be the second edition of KIUG. It includes Yogasana and Mallakhamb for the first time.

Notes:
The National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) has indigenously developed six new and rare Reference Materials (RMs).
It is the purest form of chemical required for anti-doping analysis in all WADA-accredited Laboratories across the world. They have been developed by NDTL in association with the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER)-Guwahati and the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Jammu.

Notes:
Indian space tech start-up Pixxel successfully launched its first fully-fledged commercial satellite apparently called ‘Shakuntala’ or Pixxel TD-2.
The satellite was launched with Elon Musk-run SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-4 mission from Cape Canaveral in the United States. The satellite hosts one of the highest resolution hyper-spectral commercial cameras.

Notes:
Japan’s Nakagin Capsule Tower, a landmark in Japanese architectural history, is set to be demolished by mid-April, due to its ageing.
Nakagin Capsule Tower was built in 1972 by Kisho Kurokawa. It is a thirteen-storey tall building and the tower comprises two buildings that contain 140 similar capsule units. The tower was shortlisted to be a world heritage of Modern Buildings and Sites in 1997.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in Amsterdam, as a part of the first presidential trip to the Netherlands after 34 years, since the visit of President Venkataraman in 1988
President Kovind visited Keukenhof, one of the world’s largest flower gardens. He named a new breed of yellow tulips as ‘Maitri’ representing the special and enduring friendship between India and the Netherlands.

Notes:
Global Wind Energy Council released its flagship Global Wind Report 2022. The report says that 93.6 gigawatts of capacity was installed last year, a little less than the 95.3 GW installed in 2020.
According to the report, the decline in onshore installations was driven by the world’s two largest wind power markets: China and the U.S. The report also called for a significant rise in global wind energy capacity.

Notes:
In a recent report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has appreciated the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.
It highlighted that the program provided insurance to the poor and prevented an increase in the prevalence of extreme poverty in the country. Without any food subsidies, extreme poverty in the pandemic would have increased by 1.05 per cent.